Medical pioneer an inspiration

A doctor by 1943, Cuban refugee wins Latina award at age 90

August 17, 2007|By Tal Abbady Staff Writer

When it came time to discuss the male anatomy, the professor excused his female students from the class. It was 1940s Cuba, and Isabel Diaz, a student at the University of Havana Medical School, wasn't budging from her seat.

By 1943, she had her medical degree and began a pediatric career that spanned two countries and a revolution. At 90, the Plantation resident who has treated two generations of patients in Florida will receive the Latina Pioneer Award at the sixth annual Hispanic Women of Distinction charity celebration today.

"I don't know why they're giving it to me," Diaz said recently with a laugh, never having thought of herself as a trailblazer. "In this country it's a simple formula: You work hard, you're organized, and you're disciplined. If you don't reach your goals, then you didn't want to in the first place."

It's that no-nonsense ethic that pulled her through tough times under Fidel Castro, she said.

When Castro rose to power, she was working alongside her husband as a pediatrician at a children's hospital in Havana. Before long, the government banned Catholic education, and Diaz sent her two children to the United States with Operation Peter Pan, a coordinated effort between the U.S. government and the Catholic Church that brought 14,000 Cuban children to Florida.

Not knowing when she'd see her children again, Diaz focused on her work. To help the families she saw, she falsified diagnoses, claiming a healthy child had anemia and prescribing more than the small monthly rations of milk and eggs allowed by the government.

One of the children to whom she prescribed extra eggs was the daughter of the owner of a cement freighter who worked for the government. He planned his own escape from the island with his wife and daughter and offered Diaz and her husband, Pedro Diaz, a place on his 50-foot wooden boat.

Once reunited with their children, Diaz and her husband began from scratch. They learned English, completed their medical training as pediatricians and passed medical licensing exams after becoming U.S. citizens. Diaz completed her pediatric training at Miami's Children Hospital (then Miami Varsity Hospital) and Jackson Memorial Hospital.

In 1971, she joined a practice in Fort Lauderdale and bought her own office space.

Humanitarian missions took Diaz to Honduras with doctors operating on children with cleft lip. She also dedicated her time to low-income children in Broward County, volunteering 15 years at Light of the World Clinic.

She left her practice in 1992, but continued treating children at outpatient facilities of the North Broward Hospital District. A case of macular degeneration forced her to retire in 1999 at 82, four years after losing her son to cancer and her husband to heart failure within months of each other.

Today's charity luncheon honoring Diaz begins at noon at the Signature Grand in Davie. Twelve other Hispanic women will also be recognized for their work.